Winter                                                                         Cold Moon

A knee note. The last few visits of physical therapy are near. They’re working with me now on post p.t. workouts. Specifically, how I can avoid damaging my knee while strengthening my legs. Pretty much common sense. No deep squats, no torquing the knee, no exercises that weaken the back in anyway. Core work.

I felt silly asking about this today, but I did. How do I build back my cardio? I asked because I’d begun to get back to it, then pushed myself too fast and began to resist doing it at all. Slowly. That’s the ticket. First, 3 days a week. Then, either add a day at the same pace or increase by 10/20%. Oh. I was going for six days a week and kicking the time up five minutes at a whack. No wonder I was resisting.

Overall, the knee is great. Hardly any pain. I often forget now that I had the work done. Well, often might be a stretch, but I do have times when I forget. And that’s a good thing.

Winter                                           Cold Moon

It’s 2:30 a.m. Do you know where your sleep is? I sure don’t. Ironically, I just purchased a product recommended by my physician’s group. It actually worked pretty well, but didn’t quite push me over into the second sleep cycle. I think it will work over time. But. Not tonight.

My body insists on a medieval rhythm, the old sleep cycle of two four hour segments broken up by an hour or so awake. I don’t always get 8 hours but I do get that time in between. Whether I want it or not.

So, I’m communicating with you during the break. Of course, I’m using the laptop, blue light screwing with my something or other, but what the hell? I’m awake.

The quiet of deep night soothes me. Sometimes I wonder why I waste this peaceful time; especially up here on Shadow Mountain with the forest and other mountains around us, all the wild night time critters prowling, but silent. The mind goes wide open, distracted by none of the busy daytime humanness of trucks and cars, phone calls, errands.

I’m using this opportunity in the middle of the night to talk about the sleep I’m not having. I get that it’s ironic, too. So, from the dark, in the Rocky Mountains, I’ll stop all this irony and go back to bed.

Winter                                                          Cold Moon

Final visit to my surgeon today. X-rays of the new knee will be taken. This whole process has been much harder than I imagined, though I admit my imagination didn’t have much information.

Was it worth it? The next few weeks will give a certain answer. Going back to the decision to have the surgery answers this question from another perspective. The only direction for my arthritic knee, 90% of its cartilage gone and bone spurs asserting themselves, was to get worse. Since it made hiking and working out difficult, the future for an active life did not look positive. In that regard even pain cessation and stabilization of the joint would be success. I’m hoping, and seeing, that the end result will be more, letting me back into workouts and hikes. So, unless something unforeseen asserts itself, the answer will be yes, it was worth it.

Would I recommend it? Not without making the recovery process clear. A month plus a little is a long time to be medicated and in pain. Healing, too, requires physical therapy which exacerbates, initially and for some time, the pain and the need for strong drugs. This is not an easy choice unless you really want fewer restrictions on your activity level. I did.

The aging process offers many character building opportunities. This has been one of them.